Chief executive officer of Nintendo Corp. said in an interview that amid the global economic slump and rather slowly growing U.S. market of consumer electronics, Nintendo Wii and DS video game consoles managed to demonstrate exceptionally strong market performance. Apparently, Nintendo’s partners sold about 800 thousand Wiis to end-users during Thanksgiving week.

According to Satoru Iwata, the president of Nintendo, sales of Nintendo Wii on the Thanksgiving week more than doubled from last year’s 350 thousand units to 800 thousand systems. Shipments of Nintendo DS portable game console also increased 20% year-over-year during the same timeframe, according to Mr. Iwata.

“When the economy is strong, people tend to buy three things from the top of their wish list. But when things are bad, people often buy only the first thing on their list. Fortunately for us a lot of shoppers put our products at the top of their list,” the head of Nintendo said in a brief interview with Reuters news-agency.

Earlier this month Microsoft Corp. implied that it sold roughly 390 thousand of Xbox 360 systems during the Black Friday/Thanksgiving week, or 25% more compared to the same period last year. The software giant also indicated that its X360 outsold Sony PlayStation 3 by 3:1 ratio.

It is interesting to note that last year Nintendo Wii was the most affordable new-generation video game system with $249 price-point, however, this year Microsoft sells its Xbox 360 Arcade system for $199 and it still has not managed to outsell more expensive Wii.